Brisbane NRL forward Corey Parker felt like kicking himself, but he might have missed. The Broncos lock and goalkicker came up empty handed on a rare off night with the boot in Friday night’s 24-22 loss to premiers Manly in a high-class, high-speed NRL clash at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. The usually-reliable Parker sacked himself after missing his fourth successive conversion attempt after stand-in centre Matt Gillett scored just after halftime to give Brisbane a 16-14 lead. “When you miss one it’s OK, when you miss two and then three, the sticks seem really close together,” said Parker who is closing in on 400 career goals for the Broncos. “After missing the fourth one I just said to Normie (Corey Norman) ‘you’ve got the next one’.” Norman accepted the challenge, notching his maiden NRL goal 20 minutes later, converting Gillett’s second try to put Brisbane back in the lead 22-20 before Manly hero David Williams dived over in the corner for the matchwinner in the 79th minute. Parker was bitterly disappointed with his form with the boot. But he had no reason to hide after making 157 metres and 35 tackles in one of the best games of the season. “I couldn’t kick the top off a custard tart, it just wasn’t happening for me,” lamented Parker. “You have to (man up), there’s nowhere to hide. “You’re out there in front of 30,000 people, you have to put your hand up and get on with it. “You can’t sook about it.” Parker is hoping his impressive early season form is enough to retain his State of Origin jumper for the opening game of the series in Melbourne in two weeks. Asked if he thought he was a chance of being selected in Meninga’s 17-man squad to be announced on Monday night he said: “Absolutely”. “I feel my form’s been good. I was part of the series last year but it’s out of my hands, it’s up to Mal (Meninga) and the selectors what team they want. “If I’m part of that, I’ll be over the moon but there’s nothing else I can do.” Teammate Matt Gillett, who grabbed two tries off kicks and pulled off a superb tackle on a try-bound Anthony Watmough, was not getting his hopes too high for Origin despite speculation he will be named on Monday as the bench utility. “My fingers are crossed but there’s not much I can do,” said Gillett after playing in the centres for injured star Justin Hodges (foot), who is confident of being right for Origin I. “You can’t really get your hopes up too high because of you do that and you don’t get picked, it probably hurts a lot more. “I’m a pretty easy going fella. “If I get picked I’ll be over the moon, if I’m not, I’ll just keep working hard at it.”